The present invention relates to image-forming apparatus such as copiers, printers, facsimile devices, etc., and specifically relates to improvement of an operation panel utilized for the image-forming apparatus.
Generally speaking, the image-forming apparatus is provided with an operation panel on which operating members such as various kinds of operating buttons for setting a number of copy sheets, density of the image, magnification of the image and other various kinds of conditions for forming the image, and a button for commanding the commencement of the image-forming operation, etc., are mounted. Further, the operation panel is also equipped with a display section for displaying statuses of the operating members and the image-forming apparatus and for displaying various kinds of warning messages.
A touch panel including the liquid-crystal display is usually employed for the display section, and the operator operates both the operating members, such as a start button, etc., equipped as hard keys, and the touch panel to operate the image-forming apparatus. However, the operation panel has been basically fixed onto the mainframe of the image-forming apparatus.
Conventionally, since the liquid-crystal display for general use has a considerable directivity depending on viewing angles, the visibility of the operation panel has been deteriorated due to variations of the installed places and/or the operating methods of the image-forming apparatus, resulting in a bad maneuverability of the image-forming apparatus.
Concretely speaking, in conventional image-forming apparatus, since the number of items to be displayed on the touch panel is not large so much and the operating environment of the image file is substantially kept constant, the visibility of the operation panel has not been such a serious problem. In recent development of the image-forming apparatus, however, since the screen layout of the touch panel has been getting complicated in conjunction with the digitized multi-functioning trend and the multi-compounding trend, in which a plurality of image-forming functions, such as a copying function, a printing function, a facsimile function, etc., are compounded, and the viewing angle of the touch panel has been getting wider than ever in conjunction with the trend of widening the variety of the operating environments of the image-forming apparatus due to the wide variety of the applications of image-forming apparatus, the visibility of the operation panel and the maneuverability of the image-forming apparatus have been increasingly getting worse.
To overcome the abovementioned drawbacks in conventional image-forming apparatus, which occurs in conjunction with the digitized multi-functioning trend, the multi-compounding trend and the versatility of operating environments as mentioned above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a user-friendly image-forming apparatus having an operation panel matching with the functions provided for the image-forming apparatus, and being easy to use.
Although it has been applied that the operation panel is attached to the image-forming apparatus so as to be movable relative to the main-body of it in order to attain the abovementioned object of the present invention, the grounding problems of the electronic pars, such as the liquid-crystal display, etc., have been arisen as another problem in such the case.
The electronic parts employed in the image-forming apparatus are grounded to the conductive mainframe of the image-forming apparatus. In the structure in which the movable operation panel is employed, however, it has been revealed that operation errors, caused by noises, are liable to occur in the movable operation panel, when the grounding wires, for grounding the electronic parts in the movable operation panel to the conductive mainframe of the image-forming apparatus, are bounded together with the signal wires, through which the electronic signals are communicated between the movable operation panel and the image-forming apparatus.
Accordingly, another object of the present invention is to solve the abovementioned grounding problem arising in conjunction with the employment of the movable operation panel.
Accordingly, to overcome the cited shortcomings, the abovementioned objects of the present invention can be attained by operation panels and image-forming apparatus described as follow.
(1) An operation panel, which is detachably or movably mounted onto an image-forming apparatus, and which includes a data-inputting section to input operational data necessary for operating the image-forming apparatus and/or a displaying section to display status information of the image-forming apparatus, the operation panel comprising: a circuit board, on which electronic parts, constituting electronic circuits for driving the data-inputting section and/or the displaying section, are mounted; a supporting member to support the circuit board, the data-inputting section and/or the displaying section, so as to integrate them into a single unit serving as the operation panel; a signal line, connected to a connecting port of an image-forming section incorporated in the image-forming apparatus, through which electronic signals are communicated between the operation panel and the image-forming section; and a conductive member for directly grounding at least one of the data-inputting section, the displaying section and the circuit board to a conductive main-frame of the image-forming apparatus, which is maintained at a ground-potential of the image-forming apparatus; wherein the signal line and the conductive member are disposed at separate positions being different relative to each other.
(2) The operation panel of item 1, wherein the supporting member comprises an opening section through which the conductive member is led out of the operation panel.
(3) The operation panel of item 1, wherein the data-inputting section includes at least one of a touch panel, a hard-keys board and a ten-keys board, and/or the displaying section includes at least one of a liquid-crystal display unit, a fluorescent display-tube and a light emitting diode.
(4) The operation panel of item 1, further comprising: a shielding member to electrically shield either a part of or all of the operation panel; wherein the conductive member is electrically coupled to the shielding member.
(5) The operation panel of item 1, wherein the signal line is a bundle of a plurality of signal wires, each of which is coupled to each of active points of the electronic circuits, and the conductive member is a bundle of a plurality of grounding wires, each of which is coupled to each of grounding points selected within the operation panel.
(6) The operation panel of item 5, wherein the grounding points are selected as being effective for preventing the operation panel from occurring an error in data inputting and/or information-displaying operations, caused by a noise induced or generated in the operation panel.
(7) The operation panel of item 1, wherein the conductive member is a plate member having electrical conductivity, mechanical flexibility and elasticity.
(8) The operation panel of item 1, wherein the conductive member is a resin material having electrical conductivity, mechanical compressibility and elasticity.
(9) An image-forming apparatus, comprising: an image-forming section: and an operation panel, which is detachably or movably mounted onto the image-forming apparatus, and which includes a data-inputting section to input operational data necessary for operating the image-forming apparatus and/or a displaying section to display status information of the image-forming apparatus; wherein the operation panel comprises: a circuit board, on which electronic parts, constituting electronic circuits for driving the data-inputting section and/or the displaying section, are mounted; a supporting member to support the circuit board, the data-inputting section and/or the displaying section, so as to integrate them into a single unit serving as the operation panel; a signal line, connected to a connecting port of the image-forming section, through which electronic signals are communicated between the operation panel and the image-forming section; and a conductive member for directly grounding at least one of the data-inputting section, the displaying section and the circuit board to a conductive main-frame of the image-forming apparatus, which is maintained at a ground-potential of the image-forming apparatus; and wherein the signal line and the conductive member are disposed at separate positions being different relative to each other.
(10) The image-forming apparatus of item 9, wherein the supporting member comprises an opening section through which the conductive member is led out of the operation panel.
(11) The image-forming apparatus of item 9, wherein the data-inputting section includes at least one of a touch panel, a hard-keys board and a ten-keys board, and/or the displaying section includes at least one of a liquid-crystal display unit, a fluorescent display-tube and a light emitting diode.
(12) The image-forming apparatus of item 9, wherein the operation panel further comprises: a shielding member to electrically shield either a part of or all of the operation panel; and wherein the conductive member is electrically coupled to the shielding member.
(13) The image-forming apparatus of item 9, wherein the signal line is a bundle of a plurality of signal wires, each of which is coupled to each of active points of the electronic circuits, and the conductive member is a bundle of a plurality of grounding wires, each of which is coupled to each of grounding points selected within the operation panel.
(14) The image-forming apparatus of item 13, wherein the grounding points are selected as being effective for preventing the operation panel from occurring an error in data inputting and/or information-displaying operations, caused by a noise induced or generated in operation panel.
(15) The image-forming apparatus of item 9, wherein the conductive member is a plate member having electrical conductivity, mechanical flexibility and elasticity.
(16) The image-forming apparatus of item 9, wherein the conductive member is a resin material having electrical conductivity, mechanical compressibility and elasticity.
Further, to overcome the abovementioned problems, other image-recording apparatus, embodied in the present invention, will be described as follow:
(17) An operation panel used for an image-forming apparatus, characterized by comprising:
an operation panel main-body, in which at least a liquid-crystal display section is movable relative to a main-body of the image-forming apparatus;
a signal line, through which the operation panel main-body is coupled to the main-body of the image-forming apparatus; and
a conductive member for grounding, equipped separately from the signal line, through which electronic parts of the operation panel main-body are electrically connected to a conductive mainframe of the image-forming apparatus.
(18) The operation panel, cited in item 17, characterized in that the conductive member is composed of a wire material.
(19) The operation panel, cited in item 17, characterized in that the conductive member is a plate member having electrical conductivity, mechanical flexibility and elasticity.
(20) The operation panel, cited in item 17, characterized in that the conductive member is made of a resin material having electrical conductivity, mechanical compressibility and elasticity.
(21) An operation panel used for an image-forming apparatus, characterized by comprising:
an operation panel main-body, in which at least a liquid-crystal display section is movable relative to a main-body of the image-forming apparatus;
a signal line, through which the operation panel main-body is coupled to the main-body of the image-forming apparatus;
a conductive member, electrically connected to a conductive mainframe of the image-forming apparatus; and
a shielding member, through which electronic parts of the operation panel main-body are electrically connected to the conductive member.
(22) An operation panel used for an image-forming apparatus, characterized by comprising:
an operation panel main-body, in which at least a liquid-crystal display section is movable relative to a main-body of the image-forming apparatus;
a signal line, through which the operation panel main-body is coupled to the main-body of the image-forming apparatus;
a conductive supporting member, through which electronic parts of the operation panel main-body are electrically connected to a conductive mainframe of the image-forming apparatus, while movably supporting the operation panel main-body onto the main-body of the image-forming apparatus.
(23) The operation panel, cited in item 22, characterized by further comprising:
a conductive member, through which electronic parts of the operation panel main-body are electrically connected to a conductive mainframe of the image-forming apparatus.
(24) The operation panel, cited in item 21 or 23, characterized in that the conductive member is composed of a wire material.
(25) The operation panel, cited in item 21 or 23, characterized in that the conductive member is a plate member having electrical conductivity, mechanical flexibility and elasticity.
(26) The operation panel, cited in item 21 or 23, characterized in that the conductive member is made of a resin material having electrical conductivity, mechanical compressibility and elasticity.
(27) An image-forming apparatus, characterized by comprising:
a main-body of the image-forming apparatus; and
the operation panel, cited in anyone of items 17-26.